Lighting mechanisms include one or more lighting elements, and associated components, that produce large amounts of heat during operation. Many lighting mechanisms, however, also require controls for the lighting elements, such as a capacitor, igniter and/or ballast, which are temperature sensitive and must remain at or below a specified working temperature to prevent damage to the controls, to maximize the overall efficiency of the lighting mechanism and to maximize the useful life of the lighting mechanism. As such, it has long been a challenge to create lighting mechanisms that incorporate the high-temperature lighting elements and associated operational components with the temperature-sensitive controls in a single unit.
For example, current single-unit lighting mechanisms oftentimes mount heat-sensitive controls directly adjacent to the high-temperature lighting element and/or fail to provide for adequate thermal insulation between the controls and the lighting element. As such, the controls are often exposed to excessive temperatures; thus, the overall efficiency, reliability and useful life of the lighting mechanism is substantially reduced. It would be beneficial to have a compact lighting mechanism useful for all conditions of service that includes both the controls and the lighting element(s) in a single unit while still providing adequate thermal insulation between temperature-sensitive elements and heat generating elements.